Campus Media Contacts

University of Tennessee Foundation Names 10 Additions to Board of Directors

June 24, 2011

The University of Tennessee Foundation announced the addition of 10 new members of the board of directors on Friday. The new members will begin serving on July 1.

Spruell Driver

Spruell Driver, an attorney from Nashville and current UT Board of Trustee member, is also a member of the Alumni Legislative Council and the Baker Center Associates. He is a past president of the UT Alumni Association and a former member of the UT Alumni Association Board of Governors, UT Development Council, UT Knoxville Engineering Board of Advisors, and UT Knoxville Black Millennium Focus Committee. He received his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from UT Knoxville in 1987.

Sandie Fancher

Sandie Fancher, a retired pharmacist from Gainesville, Ga., currently serves as chair of the Alliance of Women Philanthropists and is a former chair of the Cincinnati alumni chapter. She earned her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from UT Memphis in 1970.

Dee Haslam

Dee Haslam, CEO of RIVR Media in Knoxville, serves as co-chair for the UT Knoxville Campaign for Tennessee steering committee and is a member of The Campaign for Tennessee Executive Committee and the UT Knoxville College of Business Dean’s Advisory Council. She is a former chair of the Development Council. She earned her bachelor’s degree from UT Knoxville in elementary education in 1986.

Dr. Bob Kaplan

Dr. Bob Kaplan, a dermatologist from Memphis, is vice chair of the UT Development Council and a member of the Campaign for Tennessee Executive Committee. He is a 1973 graduate of the UT Health Science Center College of Medicine and served on the faculty at the UT College of Medicine from 1977-79.

Brenda Lawson

Brenda Lawson, CEO of Brenda Lawson & Associates in Cleveland, Tenn., has been very active with the University of Tennessee, serving as co-chair of The Campaign for Tennessee, a founding member and former chair of the Alliance of Women Philanthropists, a member of the UT Development Council, a trustee for the University of Chattanooga Foundation, and a member of the UT Chattanooga College of Business Advisory Board. She is a former member of the UT Knoxville Athletics Step Up Campaign committee.

Larry Martin

Larry Martin, Sr. Finance Director and Deputy Mayor for the City of Knoxville, is a member of the UT Knoxville College of Business Finance Department Advisory Board and the UT Knoxville Baker Center Associates. He is a former member of the UT Knoxville Chancellor’s Associates and was appointed by governor to a committee to study and recommend changes to internal UT spending practices. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from UT Knoxville in 1969.

John Tickle

John Tickle, President of Strongwell Corporation in Bristol, Va., serves as vice chair of The Campaign for Tennessee and is a member of the UT Knoxville College of Engineering Campaign for Tennessee steering committee. He is a former member of the UT Knoxville College of Engineering Board of Advisors and the UT Knoxville Athletics Board. He earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from UT Knoxville in 1965.

Kim White

Kim White, CEO of River City Company in Chattanooga, is a member of the University of Chattanooga Foundation Board of Directors and the UT Chattanooga College of Business Administration Dean’s Advisory Board. She is a past president of the UT Chattanooga Alumni Board and a former member of the UT Alumni Association Board of Governors. She received her bachelor’s degree in art from UT Chattanooga in 1982.

Dr. Steve Schwab

Dr. Steve Schwab, Chancellor of the UT Health Science Center, and Dr. Jan Williams, Dean of the UT Knoxville College of Business Administration, have been appointed to the board by UT President Joe DiPietro.

“We are very excited to add such an outstanding and dedicated group of individuals to our board,” said University of Tennessee Foundation Board Chair Andrea Loughry. “Their experience and passion for the University of Tennessee will be great assets as we move to increase private gift support for the university by $100 million annually by 2020 for UT’s students and faculty.”

The mission of the UT Foundation is to enrich the lives of the students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the University of Tennessee through alumni engagement, financial stewardship, and private gift support.

On July 1, the development and alumni affairs operations at the University of Tennessee will move into the UT Foundation. Foundation staff members work with alumni and other prospective donors to secure funds for scholarships, professorships, research, outreach programs, and other university initiatives.

In February 2009, the UT Board of Trustees created a foundation study committee to look at how the foundation was structured and how it compared to UT’s peer and aspirational institutions. In October 2010, the committee recommended moving the development and alumni affairs operations into the UT Foundation. Legislation for the transition was approved this spring.

“With less than 30 percent of UT’s budget being provided by the state, private gifts allow us to continue to improve and enhance our programs for students,” said Scott Rabenold, interim vice president of development and alumni affairs and president of the UT Foundation. “This change will allow us to self-fund the growth of the development and alumni affairs offices to increase private giving that will enable the university to recruit better students with scholarships, educate and challenge them with better faculty who are recruited or retained via privately funded professorships and chairs, and enhance the future of our state.”

The University of Tennessee Foundation is an independent not-for-profit created in 2001 to support the University of Tennessee’s educational, research, and public activities.